Ralph Nader: Hillary Clinton needs challenger from the left

Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader said Monday progressives in the Democratic Party must challenge Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination in 2016, saying she’s lost her progressive cred.

“Somebody must challenge from the left, because, I mean, Hillary Clinton, who started out as a progressive out of Yale Law School and Wellesley, she’s become almost the poster child for the military-industrial complex,” Nader told Chuck Todd in an online interview for MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” on Monday.

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“She hugs Kissinger. She hobnobs with Bob Rubin and the Wall Street crowd. I mean it’s almost a caricature. But you know on social issues, like pro-choice, children’s issues, you know she keeps that liberal sheen.”

Nader said the challenge could from a few “marginalized” members of the party, but he worries they won’t step up to the plate.

“In the primary I see [Sen.] Elizabeth Warren. I could see [Sen.] Sherrod Brown. I could see a few members of Congress, of the House, but they are very, very skittish about challenging the dominant players in their party,” Nader said.

Nader also criticized President Barack Obama and Democrats from getting away from the important labor issues central to the party, saying “identity politics” have taken over and distracted from the important issues to Democrats’ blue-collar base.